What's your parting quote?

[Keith&Co.]

On one episode of Orville, an alien officer, Bortus, offers a parting quote from a famous writer of his homeworld.

Between soul and sacrifice, beats the soul of civilization.

He says it is a ritual they have. He invites a reply, saying "It is customary to respond with a fitting passage of literature from ones own planet."

The ship's human XO, thinking quickly, offers

I'm a survivor.
I'm not gon' give up.
I'm not gon' stop.
I'm gon' work harder.

Bortus is mpressed: Those are words of great power, who wrote them?
Captain Ed Mercer: I think it was actually about 15 different people.



I'm not sure about the rules for quotes. Was it Bortus' favorite quote of all time, a personal motto, or something specific to the situation? But assuming it's just 'favorite,' what would your parting quote be?

I don't know why, but when asked for quotes, MY mind goes to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I find the imagery very powerful.

I would probably part with:

Jesus Christ. I could see myself lying in bed in the Mint Hotel, half-asleep and staring idly out the window, when suddenly a vicious nazi drunkard appears two hundred feet tall in the midnight sky, screaming gibberish at the world: “Woodstock Über Alles!” We will close the drapes tonight.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Toodles!

*sigh*

 

[DolphinDynasty]

My quote: "Fuck yeah! Finally!"

 

[Rhea]

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

 

[DolphinDynasty]

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

I had to look that up, and then I had to track external sources to see if any posthumous authors or orators ever explained its use. So now I know a bit more Latin, and bit more about why war is just stupid. Sometimes, in answer to an invading force, necessary, but also, still stupid. Cool.

 

[bilby]

There is nothing so useless as doing with great efficiency, that which should not be done at all.

 

[braces_for_impact]

It's been my email sig forever.


​​"I take all knowledge to be my province."[FONT=verdana, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]

​

[/FONT]-Sir Francis Bacon
[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]

​

[/FONT]

 

[ronburgundy]

Probably something along these lines:

Those who question themselves have cared for humankind. -----Kenneth Patchen (poet from the 1940's)


Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. ― Voltaire

 

[Jobar]

"The eroded sculpture of canyons and cliffs and galaxies has imprinted upon me the certain knowledge that I am a mote."
-Frank Herbert

 

[DolphinDynasty]

"The eroded sculpture of canyons and cliffs and galaxies has imprinted upon me the certain knowledge that I am a mote."
-Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert is like Isaac Asimov in that most of his science fiction is science fiction, not to be confused with other science fiction which is really just fantasy painted with "science-y" colors. We need more, just more, not less, of writers who can condense brilliantly complex data into a sound byte like that.

 

[Treedbear]

"I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus."

From the fourth comedy recording of the same name made by the Firesign Theatre.

 

[Horatio Parker]

The most profound states are non verbal.

(Also love Firesign Theater: "Come in out of the corn starch and dry your mukluks by the fire.")

 

[Treedbear]

The most profound states are non verbal.

(Also love Firesign Theater: "Come in out of the corn starch and dry your mukluks by the fire.")

And the ever popular "Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death."

 

[WAB]

"I am the poet William Anthony Baurle:
I pray you, please, do not pronounce it sourly."

This will be on my urn, where my ashes will be for my kids to ignore. Also in the copies of all of my posthumously award-winning books, so that scholars who study my super amazing poems will know how to say my name, and not fu.k it up, like they do with the immortal Theodore Roethke, or even Goethe for that matter.

/joking [sort of]

I like Shakespeare's immortal lines on his grave:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Even HIS name was mispronounced, during his lifetime. The great poet Ben Jonson, a rival and admirer, called him, roughly, "Shaxper."

He was even called "Shake-a-spear" by rivals who knew they couldn't shine his shoes when it came to poetry. Also, Francis Bacon could not possibly have written the Bard's plays, or his immortal narrative poems, since I've read Bacon, and he had nowhere near that kind of skill.

Shakespeare's closest rival was Christopher Marlowe, who got knifed in the noggin by some asshat in a bar, at the age of 29, another great loss to the literary world. Given ten more years, he may have surpassed even Shakespeare. It's known or alleged that Marlowe had a hand in some of Shakespeare's plays, and vice-versa.

Both Shakespeare and Marlowe were born in 1564. I was born in 1964, which means I'm both of them. No, really.

Just kidding! I'm not that crazy.

 

[southernhybrid]

The expression, "Life's a bitch" has been attributed to Langston Hughes, who first used the term in 1940. It's debatable who added the "then you die", but it became popular in the early 1980s. Later several hip hop artists added that phrase to the lyrics of their songs. My parting quote, regardless of how it was originated follows.

Life's a bitch and then you die
That's why we get high
'Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Life's a bitch and then you die
That's why we get high


That pretty much sums it up. No need for anything flowery or philosophical. Just tellin' it like it is.

Or I could just go with, "Is that all there is? Yes, that's all there is."

 

[Underseer]

The expression, "Life's a bitch" has been attributed to Langston Hughes, who first used the term in 1940. It's debatable who added the "then you die", but it became popular in the early 1980s. Later several hip hop artists added that phrase to the lyrics of their songs. My parting quote, regardless of how it was originated follows.

Life's a bitch and then you die
That's why we get high
'Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Life's a bitch and then you die
That's why we get high


That pretty much sums it up. No need for anything flowery or philosophical. Just tellin' it like it is.

Or I could just go with, "Is that all there is? Yes, that's all there is."

During the Cold War, I read an article about things Russian diplomats were quoted as saying, but the author wasn't sure which of those statements were just Russian sayings and which original thoughts by the diplomat in question. My personal favorite from that article:

"Live and scratch. When you die, the itching stops."

I always thought that was much more artful than "Life's a bitch, then you die."

 

[Underseer]

I have used this as a forum signature in various forums over the years, so it kind of is a parting quote for me.

"It's great to be known, but it's even better to be known as strange."
[ent]mdash[/ent]Takeshi Kaga

Runners up:

"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
[ent]mdash[/ent]Mark Twain

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself[ent]mdash[/ent]and you are the easiest to fool."
[ent]mdash[/ent]Richard Feynman

 

[WAB]

I have used this as a forum signature in various forums over the years, so it kind of is a parting quote for me.



Runners up:

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself[ent]mdash[/ent]and you are the easiest to fool."
[ent]mdash[/ent]Richard Feynman

Hey U [I still like saying that],

My favorite quote might just be the last thing Joe Pesci uttered before he got shot in Goodfellas. I only vaguely remember, and I can't find it on Youtube, but it was something like, "Aw fuck!"

Abe Vigoda had some pleasant parting dialogue before he was shot in The Godfather.

I would be fascinated to know what hitler and Eva Braun said to each other; Or, even more disgustingly and morbidly fascinating, what the married Goebbels' said to one another before they were shot and killed May 1 1945, after the queen bitch killed her six young children.

I don't recall exactly, or if it is even known, whether the Goebbels were shot together by some other nazi, or whether they offed themselves. The great German film version of the story has Goebbels shooting his wife first, in the back of the noggin, then offing himself.

Extremely disturbing stuff.

But Helga, the oldest child, held her honor, by fighting against her sadistic mother before she was forced to take the poison.

 

[ZiprHead]

"I told you I was sick."

 

[Mediancat]

"In all of mankind's history, there has never been more damage done than by 'someone who thought they were doing the right thing'."

Rob